The Union Home Secretary Shri Rajiv Gauba chaired a special meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to sensitize all the stakeholders about the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction and to discuss implementation of the same, here today. The meeting was attended by Members of National Disaster management Authority (NDMA), Members of NEC, Relief Commissioners/Secretaries (Disaster Management) & representatives of the States and Union Territories. The 10 point agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction was announced by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi during the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) held in November last year in New Delhi.
Addressing the participants, the Union Home Secretary, Shri Rajiv Gauba, said that 10 point Agenda announced by the Prime Minister is a vision document based on three important global frameworks on disaster and sustainable development, namely Sustainable Development Goal, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Paris Agreement on Climate Change. He emphasized that interconnectedness and cooperation among different stakeholders including Central Government, State/UT Governments and other stakeholders could help achieving the targets announced by the Prime Minister. Shri Gauba said that India is one of the most disaster- prone countries. He further added that due to climatic and topographical divergence, different disasters affect different parts of the country. The NDMA can play a role to set up a mechanism for regular monitoring, he added. He also stressed upon the time bound and specific deliverables for disaster risk reduction on implementation of 10 Point Agenda.
Shri Kamal Kishore, Member, NDMA made a presentation on the subject and highlighted the initiatives taken by the Central Government in this regard. He said that PM’s 10 Point Agenda gives concrete ideas for implementing Sendai framework. Shri Kishore said that for the implementation for 10 point agenda, many factors are important such as participation of all stakeholders including Government, Private sector, Academia & multi-lateral institutions, tangible & measurable outcomes, well defined time-frames, linkages across each of the ten points, dedicated capacity to monitor implementation and a communication strategy for mobilization. He also highlighted some of relevant actionable points for the stakeholders including mainstreaming DRR in flagship schemes of the Government, development of disaster insurance mechanisms for home-owners in disaster prone areas, inclusion of women units of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force, undertaking a national level disaster risk assessment along with an online platform, developing an e-platform to map expertise and resources on highly specialized aspects of disaster response, developing a social media strategy for disaster risk management in the country, developing national guidelines for post-disaster recovery and systematically documenting post-disaster recovery work and lessons learnt.
Representatives from various State Governments and Central Ministries also gave their suggestions/inputs in implementation of the agenda and in making the country disaster resilient. They also spoke on the efforts taken by their respective States and Central Ministries for implementing the agenda. Among the main points discussed were the issues such as non-availability of disaster experts in States, use of technology in disaster management, raising of SDRF battalions in States, regional cooperation among states, and sharing of information on lightning forecast etc.
After discussion, it was agreed that Central Ministries would prepare road map for implementing 10 point agenda by December 2017. It was also agreed that States would discuss the PM’s 10 point agenda in their State Executive Committee and chalk out time bound plan with specific outcome for implementing the PM’s 10 point Agenda by December 2017.
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